USERS hoping to log on to Facebook today were met with disappointment as the log in gateway failed.
It appears that Meta's flagship app Facebook has been experiencing an outage once again.
We explain how to check Facebook for problems or outages
Is Facebook down?
There has been some issue when people try to log in to Facebook using the gateway.
Anyone logging in were faced with the message: "Facebook is down for required maintenance right now, but you should be able to get back on within a few minutes.
"In the meantime, read more about why you're seeing this message.
"Thanks for your patience as we improve the site."
At around 11am Downdetector tweeted: "User reports indicate Facebook is having problems since 6:12 AM EDT."
The issue seems to have been resolved and Facebook and Meta's associated app Messenger appear to be functioning again.
Apps that relied on Facebook for log in services were also impacted such as popular Niantic game Pokémon Go.
The company tweeted and asked gamers to log in user other linked accounts or "try again later".
Facebook's own service page did not report an issue, saying: "The service is up and running with no known issues."
How can I check if Facebook is not working?
Those who may be experiencing difficulties with Facebook can check another social media app such as Twitter for reports.
If you don't have a Twitter account Down Detector will tell users when the apps are down or experiencing difficulties.
If it appears the problem may not be widespread, try checking the internet connection on your device or exiting the app before logging back in.
When have there been Facebook outages before?
There have been other reported Facebook outages in the past including:
June 2014: Facebook was down for about a half-hour - its longest outage in four years.
January 2015: Facebook was down for about 40 minutes affecting users worldwide.
March 2019: A massive Facebook outage affected users worldwide. Facebook was down for about 14 hours, which is believed to be the biggest interruption any social network has ever experienced.
January 2021: Facebook experienced a bug that logged most users out of their mobile app.
March 2021: Over 60,000 users said they experienced problems with Facebook, while 38,000 Instagram users also reported issues.
September 2021: Facebook users are locked out of their accounts.
October 2021: Facebook was one of a dozen apps that were experiencing outages
November 2021: Facebook malware affecting user logins and sharing.
April 2022: Facebook log in problems, reportedly due to maintenance.